Preview — 31 Songs
by Nick Hornby

31 Songs

The personal essays in Nick Hornby's Songbook pop off the page with the immediacy and passion of an artfully arranged mix-tape. But then, who better to riff on 31 of his favorite songs than the author of that literary music-lover's delight, High Fidelity?

The personal essays in Nick Hornby's Songbook pop off the page with the immediacy and passion of an artfully arranged mix-tape. But then, who better to riff on 31 of his favorite songs than the author of that literary music-lover's delight, High Fidelity?

"And mostly all I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don't like them as much as I do," writes Hornby. More than his humble disclaimer, he captures "the narcotic need" for repeat plays of Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird," and testifies that "you can hear God" in Rufus Wainwright's coy reinterpretation of his father Loudon's "One Man Guy" ("given a neat little twist by Wainwright Junior's sexual orientation..."). Especially poignant is his reaction to "A Minor Incident," a Badly Drawn Boy song written for the soundtrack of the film version of Hornby's book About a Boy. While Hornby was writing the book, his young son was diagnosed with autism--a fact that adds greater resonance to the seemingly unrelated song he hears much later: "I write a book that isn't about my kid, and then someone writes a beautiful song based on an episode in my book that turns out to mean something much more personal to me than my book ever did." Meandering asides and observations like this linger in your mind (just like a fantastic song) long after you've flipped past the final page.

The 11-song CD that accompanies the book is a great touch, but it's too bad it doesn't contain all of the featured songs--most likely the unfortunate result of licensing difficulties. Overall, Hornby's pitch-perfect prose, the quirky illustrations from Canadian artist Marcel Dzama, and a good cause--proceeds benefit TreeHouse, a U.K. charity for children with autism, and 826 Valencia, the nonprofit Bay Area learning center--add up to make Songbook a hit. Solid gold. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Community Reviews

Nick Hornby contemplates the souls connection to music, and how it shapes our lives and culture while sharing with us 31 of his own favourite tunes and his personal connection to them. Hornby's essays, as with all his novels, are beautifully written with equal parts humour and insight and even if you’re unfamiliar with the song in that chapter, completely relatable.

I made a point to listen to every song while reading each chapter which added to my enjoyment as well as introduced me to some gemsNick Hornby contemplates the souls connection to music, and how it shapes our lives and culture while sharing with us 31 of his own favourite tunes and his personal connection to them. Hornby's essays, as with all his novels, are beautifully written with equal parts humour and insight and even if you’re unfamiliar with the song in that chapter, completely relatable.

I made a point to listen to every song while reading each chapter which added to my enjoyment as well as introduced me to some gems I’d never heard before.

the original hardcover edition is the one to get. it's all made up nice to resemble a mix tape you made back in high school and handed, sweaty palm and all, to the girl you were madly in love with. she was all long brown hair and old striped izod shirts that were hand-me-downs from her older brother or father. and afterwards. days later. you sat on a guardrail in a parking lot and talked about the songs. and the sun was setting over telephone wires on beat-up cars and still. it was a perfect lanthe original hardcover edition is the one to get. it's all made up nice to resemble a mix tape you made back in high school and handed, sweaty palm and all, to the girl you were madly in love with. she was all long brown hair and old striped izod shirts that were hand-me-downs from her older brother or father. and afterwards. days later. you sat on a guardrail in a parking lot and talked about the songs. and the sun was setting over telephone wires on beat-up cars and still. it was a perfect landscape. and you held hands and looked her in the eye and watched the last light leave the day. that is pretty much this book....more

Recommends it for: music lovers, Hornby lovers (is there a difference?)

A couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can't believe they'll be another. Yet there always is, and I can't wait for the next one; you need only a few hundred more things like that, and you've got a life worth living.

I love Nick Hornby. I love his voice. And I love that he's so neurotically obsessive about the things that he loves.

Here he dissects 31 of his favorite sA couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can't believe they'll be another. Yet there always is, and I can't wait for the next one; you need only a few hundred more things like that, and you've got a life worth living.

I love Nick Hornby. I love his voice. And I love that he's so neurotically obsessive about the things that he loves.

Here he dissects 31 of his favorite songs. I have a hard time believing that these are his actual favorite 31 songs. I felt like they were 31 good lead-ins to 31 essays, in a way. He had some points to make about music, and these particular songs, or artists helped to illustrate them.

I was most intrigued by the song "notes." I looked up each one on You Tube so that I could hear them as I read. He listed pretty specific details on some, and it was fun to catch on to what he was talking about. I was introduced to some songs and artists I'd never heard. Some struck a chord with me, some didn't. I made a list of some I'd like to hear again. (OK music freaks, I know you want specifics...how about Rufus Wainwright doing "One Man Guy"...or "Caravan" by Van Morrison?)

Hornby here writes like a magazine music critic. He likes to explain the "why" behind a song. He reminds me of a Biology professor, carefully dissecting a frog. There's a nerd, and a poet within him.

Only three stars because there were some uninteresting parts (did I really need a whole essay about why Los Lobos makes a good boxed set, but not Stevie Nicks? Aren't boxed sets already dated anyway, in this day of digital downloads?) But there were some highs, too, including Hornby devoting an essay to the musical interests of his autistic son--a very tender moment. Love you, Nick! You can make me a mix anyday....more

“You could, if you were perverse, argue that you’ll never hear England by listening to English pop music. The Beatles and the Stones were, in their formative years, American cover bands that sang with American accents; the Sex Pistols were The Stooges with bad teeth and a canny manager, and Bowie was an art-school version of Jackson Browne until he saw the New York Dolls.” So begins Nick Hornby’s chapter on why England’s national anthem should change (shouldn’t they all?) from “God Save the Quee“You could, if you were perverse, argue that you’ll never hear England by listening to English pop music. The Beatles and the Stones were, in their formative years, American cover bands that sang with American accents; the Sex Pistols were The Stooges with bad teeth and a canny manager, and Bowie was an art-school version of Jackson Browne until he saw the New York Dolls.” So begins Nick Hornby’s chapter on why England’s national anthem should change (shouldn’t they all?) from “God Save the Queen” to Ian Dury & The Blockheads “Reasons to be Cheerful.” And he lays down astute reasoning behind his wry suggestions. In Hornby’s personal survey on music, “Songbook,” he ponders many ideas, among them how many Dylan discs are really enough. Apparently five is all you need even though he amassed 20+ discs and collections as we all did. And he’s right; he’s right about so many songs and artists and pop movements that you can’t help but stop and cue up Youtube. You’ll even cue up “Late for the Sky” by Jackson Browne just to see if Hornby’s post-40s sensibilities align with your growth from The Ramones to songs with meaning. Often they do. Hornby’s re-examined musical history is right on. “I can’t afford to be a pop snob any more, and if there is a piece of music out there that has the ability to move me, then I want to hear it, no matter who’s made it.” In the case of Hornby’s re-assessment of Browne and the “delicate Californian flowers” and his cross reference of Mojo Magazine’s top 100 Greatest Punk Singles as proof that sometimes we get some music at certain times in our lives and sometimes we’re just not attuned to other efforts is spot on. He’s right, there really isn’t 100 great punk singles, most are simple awful, but he does recognize it’s a moment in life that we hold dear. And then it’s time to move on. Hornby’s “Songbook” isn’t clear-cutting nostalgia. He appreciates greatness and what moves us. “What must it have been like, to listen to “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1966, aged nineteen or twenty?” Hornby asks. “I heard “Anarchy in the UK” in 1976, aged nineteen, but the enormous power those records had then has mostly been lost now.” Songs got faster, louder, and shorter, so they lost the shock. Dylan, being Dylan, we mine it deeper, because it was meant to be mined. Or so we thought, and that may be why we get exhausted by ‘serious’ artists, Dylan, Zeppelin, Springsteen, until the fun is gone. As Hornby points out, “Like a Rolling Stone,” still sounds perfect. It just doesn’t sound fresh anymore.” “Songbook” starts with an assessment of Springsteen and a mention of Dave Eggers’ theory that we play songs over and over because we have to ‘solve’ them. That may be true, but we still love the evanescence of what moves us. Then Hornby ends “Songbook” with a look at Patti Smith. “One of the things you can’t help but love about Smith is her relentless and incurable bohemianism, her assuaged thirst for everything connected to art and books and music. In this one evening she named-checked Virginia Woolf and Tom Verlaine, William Blake and Jerry Garcia, Graham Greene and William Burroughs.” While Springsteen worries about being The Boss, and as perfect as he can be, and he can be absolutely perfect, witness his song “The Rising” in response to 9/11, Smith on the other hand “seems blissfully untroubled about her status as an artist: she just is one, and it requires no further contemplation on her part.”Hornby wrote that after seeing a transformative Patti Smith performance, and I’m convinced, as he was that night,that great artists, those that make us feel the music and art and writing channeled through them, make us all better human beings. ...more

A few pages into book brought me to the observation. It’s not the typical Nick Hornby piece. Don’t expect to find yourself in the psyche of some middle-aged guy coming to terms with his personal foibles and neuroses. The book is a collection of essays on selected songs that Hornby relates to certain moments in his life – his personal soundtrack so to speak.

Granted, the topic is boring or, at the very least, uninspiring. His song selection is quite esoteric. Only two of(Reposting an old review)

A few pages into book brought me to the observation. It’s not the typical Nick Hornby piece. Don’t expect to find yourself in the psyche of some middle-aged guy coming to terms with his personal foibles and neuroses. The book is a collection of essays on selected songs that Hornby relates to certain moments in his life – his personal soundtrack so to speak.

Granted, the topic is boring or, at the very least, uninspiring. His song selection is quite esoteric. Only two of the songs and a third of the artists rang a bell. And what do I care about Nick Hornby’s life? I read books to amuse myself on their content, not to catch a glimpse of the author’s adolescence or religious beliefs.

Nevertheless, there’s one thing that I could not deny. Reading the book was sheer pleasure.

I guess that’s what makes a writer like Nick Hornby so popular. He can captivate his audience even with the most mundane topic at hand.

Somewhere in the book, Hornby refers to himself as a “prose stylist”. I consider him more of a “prose stylist extraordinaire”. It is not the idea he is communicating that piques my interest, but the manner through which he communicates them. I end up reading the book for the sake of reading, as if reading itself provided a satisfaction separate and distinct from the ideas Hornby wishes to convey. Next thing I know, anecdotes on Hornby’s first visit to America or his inspiration for a particular chapter of High Fidelity have become as enticing as a tall tale of witchcraft and wizardry.

It’s like going to a restaurant and, for one reason or another, choosing the fish over the steak, despite knowing that steak has more inherent taste and flavor. You expect to be moderately sated by a bland entrée that surprisingly outclasses even the finest of beef.

That’s what Hornby does. He evokes the sublime out of the ordinary. He is a literary master chef who magically seasons a flavorless main ingredient with a spice repertoire of wit, sarcasm and an uncanny use of metaphors.

In his review of the song So I’ll Run, Hornby himself cleverly discusses this dilemma of writing about the ordinary –

“ It’s all very well writing about elves and dragons and goddesses rising out of the ground and the rest of it – who couldn’t do that and make it colorful . . . But writing about pubs and struggling singer-songwriters – well, that’s hard work. Nothing happens. Nothing happens, and yet, somehow, I have to persuade you that something is happening somewhere in the hearts and minds of my characters, even though they’re just standing there drinking beer and making jokes . . . ”

In differentiating music and lyrics in another review, he says “music is such a pure form of self-expression, and lyrics, because they consist of words, are so impure, and songwriters . . . find that, even though they can produce both, words will always let you down. One half of [the] art is aspiring towards the condition of the other half, and that must be weird, to feel so divinely inspired and so fallibly human, all at the same time. Maybe it’s only songwriters who have ever had any inkling of what Jesus felt of a bad day.”

See what I mean.

Hence, after going through the entire book once and selected chapters several times, I still find myself lifting the book from my shelf and revisiting a chapter or two – for the sake of sheer hedonism. ...more

I was playing Queen for my daughter today, thinking it's 24 years since I first consciously listened to their music and irremediably fell in love with them (read Freddie, mostly) and I just realized I didn't say a word about this little lovely book.

"Sometimes, very occasionally, songs and books and films and pictures express who you are, perfectly. And they don’t do this in words or images, necessarily; the connection is a lot less direct and more complicated than that"

This quote really sums upI was playing Queen for my daughter today, thinking it's 24 years since I first consciously listened to their music and irremediably fell in love with them (read Freddie, mostly) and I just realized I didn't say a word about this little lovely book.

"Sometimes, very occasionally, songs and books and films and pictures express who you are, perfectly. And they don’t do this in words or images, necessarily; the connection is a lot less direct and more complicated than that"

This quote really sums up what 31 Songs (Songbook) is about. There's a lot of love in it, for music, obviously, for Danny, his autistic son, for friends, for places, for Bruce (Springsteen), for Lee (not Bruce Lee, though :-)), there's sadness and there's joy. It's almost like an open invitation to introspection. I'd love to do it, but I'm not sure I'm ready to dig so deep into myself....more

What could perhaps described as autobiographical music criticism. Anyone who knows me knows I frequently cite the often miss attributed quote "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (Costello? Monk? Mingus? Kant?) so this book is kinda like that. Plus, Hornby frequently comes across as an old, liberal fart, especially in his descriptions of 21st century pop music and hip hop BUT HE KNOWS HES AN OLD LIBERAL FART AND HE REALLY LOVES Nelly Furtado so that sort of makes it OK doesn'What could perhaps described as autobiographical music criticism. Anyone who knows me knows I frequently cite the often miss attributed quote "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (Costello? Monk? Mingus? Kant?) so this book is kinda like that. Plus, Hornby frequently comes across as an old, liberal fart, especially in his descriptions of 21st century pop music and hip hop BUT HE KNOWS HES AN OLD LIBERAL FART AND HE REALLY LOVES Nelly Furtado so that sort of makes it OK doesn't it? Not really. I don't even know where to begin with that one.

Still, his passion for music made me pull out a couple CD's I'd bought out of guilt and/or curiousity and listen to then, only to realize I still didn't like them. ...more

I wavered between giving this book three or four stars, but decided on three because of several essays in the middle that I didn't find particularly interesting and could have done without. In general, these essays provide an insightful look at music in general, how it plays a part in our lives and its impact on culture.

Because the essays are written by Nick Hornby, they are often quite funny, and almost always well-crafted. I love his general lack of pretension about his music tastes, and thatI wavered between giving this book three or four stars, but decided on three because of several essays in the middle that I didn't find particularly interesting and could have done without. In general, these essays provide an insightful look at music in general, how it plays a part in our lives and its impact on culture.

Because the essays are written by Nick Hornby, they are often quite funny, and almost always well-crafted. I love his general lack of pretension about his music tastes, and that he recognizes he's a middle-aged white man who probably isn't always the best judge of modern music (and he's okay with that).

I have not heard many of the songs he wrote about, but that didn't matter. The songs themselves were often only periphery to the main points he was trying to make about culture or music tastes or the importance of music in our lives. I thought the first few essays started off strong, and then the book started to lag in the middle, but overall I enjoyed it.

My edition also came with five extra essays reprinted from The New Yorker, but most of them were album reviews and didn't feel like they fit with the rest of the book. Still, even album reviews are quite insightful in the hands of Hornsby. And the fifth of these essays, where Hornby decides to listen to the 10 best-selling albums in the U.S. based on the Billboard charts, contains one of the best and funniest insults I've heard of a band's lyrics (but I'll let you read for yourself)....more

Nick Hornby is a good writer and it is obvious with this book. But this was a really boring book. As I was reading about songs I didn't know or could care about I wondered how this book even got made and who would really buy it. I fill like it was something he just did to fulfill an obligation. I'm glad I could read it in a day.

When I put this on my wishlist, I thought it was a novel. I just read a couple of Hornby's books and decided I wanted to read them all. I was a little disappointed when I discovered it was just him talking about 31 songs he liked, especially when I looked at the list of songs and either don't know or don't like any of them.

But this isn't really about those particular songs. This is a musical journey that pretty much everyone can relate to. Even though the songs are different, they way he's goneWhen I put this on my wishlist, I thought it was a novel. I just read a couple of Hornby's books and decided I wanted to read them all. I was a little disappointed when I discovered it was just him talking about 31 songs he liked, especially when I looked at the list of songs and either don't know or don't like any of them.

But this isn't really about those particular songs. This is a musical journey that pretty much everyone can relate to. Even though the songs are different, they way he's gone through genres at certain stages of life, echos my own.

I laughed out loud when he mentioned starting to look towards country music, as it tends to be like heavy rock music where it's not that mainstream and you still feel like you have something special to you. I am loving country music at the moment, I must have reached that age!

Everyone who starts to notice they are getting older will relate to not understanding the music of today. My niece was playing some rap song for me yesterday, kept going 'boys, not hot'. And I was judging it for being stupid. This book has made me remember that I love the song 'Barbie Girl' and I will sing along to 'The Cheeky Girls' if it's being played. And I'm guessing my parents didn't understood why I liked those tunes, as their parents no doubt didn't understand what they were listening to.

Still can't get over that all the songs I like are now being played on 'Magic' . A radio station that used to be reserved exclusively for songs my mum liked.

Hornby injects his trademark humor into the writing and although I did try and listen to a few of the tracks on youtube, they are not my thing. But that doesn't matter. Like I said before, this is about the relationship people have with music. Very relatable. ...more

Songbook was going to be (I thought) my introduction to Nick Hornby. Hornby is, of course, the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy. I was looking forward to seeing Hornby's legendary mordant wit on display. To a certain extent that actually happened in Songbook, which is a collection of essays on music, specifically the music the author loves most-pop music. I cannot disparage the subject matter, but the book itself became a painful slog I only finished through sheer stubbornness. I quit eveSongbook was going to be (I thought) my introduction to Nick Hornby. Hornby is, of course, the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy. I was looking forward to seeing Hornby's legendary mordant wit on display. To a certain extent that actually happened in Songbook, which is a collection of essays on music, specifically the music the author loves most-pop music. I cannot disparage the subject matter, but the book itself became a painful slog I only finished through sheer stubbornness. I quit even trying to listen to the author's musical choices after the first few essays. I am not sure what precipitated this reaction-maybe we like the same music but different songs, Mr. Hornby. ...more

It is not really this book’s fault that I hated it because it really is not my thing. However, I like to give every book that comes my way a chance so I gave it a go.

This is a book about Nick Hornby’s favourite songs. My problems were that I don’t know who Nick Hornby is, I don’t care what he thinks about certain songs, and we clearly have different tastes in music.

I tried to read it carefully but after the first few songs, I just skimmed through it.

But sometimes, very occasionally, songs and books andfilms and pictures express who you are, perfectly.

I might not have the same music taste as Nick Hornby (I mostly related to the references to Sex Pistols, The Clash and Patti Smith) but we feel and are driven by our love for it which is exactly what this book is about.Although, I do feel it got dragged by the end of it and the songs didn't feel as meaningful as the first ones and could've done without.

The other day I read a rather unfair review of Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" on The Atlantic, about how he was among the best of second-rate writers, or something like that. In explaining her position, the writer refered to a moment in the book where a character's library is used as a way of describing him, which is apparently lazy. This observation was weird for me, not only because the character in question was Elliot Templeton, who at the time of this "description" had already been psThe other day I read a rather unfair review of Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" on The Atlantic, about how he was among the best of second-rate writers, or something like that. In explaining her position, the writer refered to a moment in the book where a character's library is used as a way of describing him, which is apparently lazy. This observation was weird for me, not only because the character in question was Elliot Templeton, who at the time of this "description" had already been psychologically analyzed about a million times before, but also because I always thought a person's library always said more about them than they did, or could only hope to. Maybe this extends to music- to Nick Hornby, it most certainly does.

When I first read High Fidelity, I didn't know half the music he was talking about- was I extremely uneducated? Maybe. Having expanded my musical horizons, however, I expected to know or at least have heard of most of the artists Hornby was talking about- nope.

Look, I don't consider myself completely ignorant when it comes to music. I'm not a music snob, either- as evidenced by the couple of Taylor Swift tracks on my iPod (yes, I still have an iPod and it shall be burried with me). That being said, I still found myself in alien territory with this book, even after having the songs accompany the essays while I read them.

Bruce Springsteen? Too melodramatic for me. Bob Dylan? Still pissed about him winning the Nobel Prize; will not submit myself to hearing more of his songs I already have. Nelly Furtado? Natural selection of popular music has spoken, and for once I agree with it.

With Hornby talking about music that in my list goes from bland to downright insufferable, I didn't get as much out of this book as, say, a Teenage Fanclub fan would. But I still found it enjoyable- it's always nice to be in Hornby's company, even if he's bashing Noel Gallagher and jazz and Pink Floyd, who in the end, to me, are the ones who Truly Get It.

Of course, I'm not saying everything's a matter of taste and therefore taste does not matter. It matters very much. The question of Aesthetics has a permanent spot in philosophy courses because, contrary to popular belief, there is such a thing as Beauty- and its opposite, which can be just as powerful.

Some elitists will exclude an entire genre and declare it "Not Art"; some will simply ignore it. Truth is, we can't separate stuff by genre: like Hornby says, there are quite a few awesome pop songs that are just as good as any Mendelssohn tracks- which were way too popular in his time, and made too much money, too; so I bet he had his share of elitist hate.

Point being, if you love music, you're gonna have to dig through the trash. Sometimes your trash might be somebody else's treasure, and good for them- that's how serious criticism begins, and we're all the better for it. Not to say, of course, that you can't like shit songs while knowing fully well how shit they are- for instance, I love Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" because it reminds me of High School Math. I love "Total Eclipse of the Heart" because it's so cheesy and ridiculous but even the snootiest people I know sing along to it. So, you're allowed to like your shitsongs. You don't have to prove yourself, and it took me a long time to understand that. And it's not like you will only ever love shitsongs, because no one is That Vapid, so don't worry....more

Music is such a personal experience that, in the course of writing about 31 songs, one is bound to alienate some and endear oneself to others, possibly at the same time. I think that's why I found it difficult to rate this book. I was both delighted by it and disappointed with it. Some lines were illuminating and others made me laugh out loud. But I found large sections irrelevant and actually skipped a lot of it. The pace felt schizophrenic and overwhelming, as he pulled in random tidbits fromMusic is such a personal experience that, in the course of writing about 31 songs, one is bound to alienate some and endear oneself to others, possibly at the same time. I think that's why I found it difficult to rate this book. I was both delighted by it and disappointed with it. Some lines were illuminating and others made me laugh out loud. But I found large sections irrelevant and actually skipped a lot of it. The pace felt schizophrenic and overwhelming, as he pulled in random tidbits from different parts of his life. Rather than writing a coherent response to it, I think I'll write down my thoughts in an equally schizophrenic and overwhelming list.

1. Two of my favorite songs were included in his analysis - Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road and Ani Difranco's You Had Time. The parts about them were difficult to read because he loved them for different reasons than I do. While this is completely understandable, it had the unexpected result of making me feel like my world was being reshaped. I have known and loved these songs in my own way for years. Suddenly, Nick Hornby is forcing me to look at them from HIS perspective and HIS life experiences. I don't like it. Hornby says that, in the end, "mostly all I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don't like them as much as I do." I would just add that I also get cross when other people don't like them for the same reasons that I do.

2. "If you love a song, love it enough for it to accompany you throughout the different stages of your life, then any specific memory is rubbed away by use." I've thought about this for some time and I don't know if I completely agree. I fell in love with both of the songs above in college. It happened at my desk next to the window in the apartment on Ridge Road. I don't remember any specific day I played them but I remember sitting back in my chair and singing along as the problem sets and papers that I was inevitably working on melted away. Likewise, I remember every other occasion that they have resurfaced in my life. For Thunder Road, I remember my delight when I unexpectedly found its lyrics snaking up the wall in a spiral staircase at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I remember trying in vain to play it on youtube in the car while we were driving around Cleveland afterwards, for a car full of people who didn't particularly care and couldn't understand why I was so insistent upon them hearing it (see #1). I also remember the moment of happy surprise when I found it on NV's playlist as we were driving into Austin and his subsequent dismay when I played it at least once a day (usually much more) for the remaining week of the trip. Furthermore, to this day, I cannot listen to Arcade Fire's Neon Bible album without feeling like I was back in London commuting to work on the tube while reading Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind. So, in fact, I wholeheartedly disagree that a beloved song blends into your existence, losing its context and blurring out associations with your life. Rather, for me, it puts a spotlight on those moments in life and makes me more keenly aware of where I was and how I was feeling. But that, of course, is very specific to my relationship with music.

3. On defending Nelly Furtado's I'm Like A Bird and pop music in general (This one's for you, JM): "Yes, it's disposable. But then shouldn't we be sick of the 'Moonlight Sonata' by now? ... Or 'The Importance of Being Earnest?' They're empty! Nothing left! We sucked 'em dry! That's what gets me: the very people who are snotty about the disposability of pop will go over and over again to see Lady Bracknell say 'a handbag?' in a funny voice. They don't think that joke's exhausted itself?"

4. This one made me laugh. "Would it be possible to fuck to the tune of 'Let's Get It On' without laughing? (Not that there's anything wrong with laughing during sex, but laughter was not, I suspect, the sound that Marvin intended to provoke.)"

5. This is unrelated to music but also made me laugh. "My advice to young writers: never begin a title with a preposition, because you will find that it is impossible to utter or to write any sentence pertaining to your creation without sounding as if you have an especially pitiable stutter. 'He wanted to talk to me about About a Boy.' 'What about About a Boy?' 'Are you excited about About a boy?' And so on. I wonder if Steinbeck and his publisher got sick of it? 'What do you think of Of Mice and Men?'"

6. His description of Danny's (his autistic son) relationship with music is both heartbreaking and uplifting. "Though (Danny) has very little language, he has managed to find words for things he fears he might not be given unless he asks for them. In other words, there are some things so desirable that they can burst through the blanket of silence that smothers him, and music('goggo,' as he calls it), ranks right up there, along with crisps, and swimming, and biscuits, which is pretty much where I'd put it, too."

7. On being a Brit who loved America: "In the 1970s we were trying to live the American life, but without any of the things that make an American life bearable. What we did have was history, and this, apparently, was enough to make us feel superior... I would cheerfully have swapped England's entire heritage -- Stonehenge, Stratford, Wordsworth, Buckingham Palace, the lot -- for the ability to watch quiz shows in the morning."

8. "Dave Eggers has a theory that we play songs over and over, those of us who do, because we have to 'solve' them, and it's true that in our early relationship with, and courtship of, a new song, there is a stage which is akin to a sort of emotional puzzlement." I've never thought of it this way but I think this is spot on.

When I started writing this review, I gave this book 3 stars. After thinking through my schizophrenic list, I am now kicking it up to 4 stars. I think it is worth a read, if only to figure out what you agree and disagree with....more

Rummaging through the music section of my library one day, I found Songbook by Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About A Boy, and immediately brought it home. There’s nothing better than coming across someone who enjoys music and can write about it with skill and verve.

Songbook is basically a collection of reflections on 31 songs, not his all-time “best of” list, but rather, songs which he’s listened to over and over again and which he wanted to write something about. Thus he has essays oRummaging through the music section of my library one day, I found Songbook by Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About A Boy, and immediately brought it home. There’s nothing better than coming across someone who enjoys music and can write about it with skill and verve.

Songbook is basically a collection of reflections on 31 songs, not his all-time “best of” list, but rather, songs which he’s listened to over and over again and which he wanted to write something about. Thus he has essays on everything from Nelly Furtado’s “Fly Like A Bird” and Ben Folds Five’s “Smoke” to Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan tunes. The book even comes with an audio CD containing 11 of the 31 songs he wrote about.

Hornby refrains from turning the chapters into blog-like entries and talking about what was happening in his life at the time he was listening. Instead, he waxes almost poetically on issues like the throw-away culture which outputs current pop music and how it still manages to produce intelligent, soulful compositions; he reflects on the difference between sad songs about work versus sad songs about relationships; he even talks about generational differences, and touches on music and social change. It’s not philosophy, as much as a chance to talk about pop music intelligently and insightfully.

NUGGET OF WISDOM

The best nugget of wisdom I took away from the book: “Dave Eggers has a theory that we play songs over and over, those of us who do, because we have to ’solve’ them.”

I remember doing exactly that– placing an mp3 on constant repeat over a period of time — in order to squeeze the juice out of it, to get at its message, its point, its truth. To enjoy its aural and intellectual stimulus, and allow it to carry me forward.

FAVORITE QUOTE

“A couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I’ve loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can’t believe that there’ll be another. Yet there always is, and I can’t wait for the next one; you only need a few hundred more things like that, and you’ve got a life worth living.”

If you love pop music and intelligent writing, then you will relish Hornby’s Songbook. It is a hopeful, insightful read with its own built-in soundtrack. Worth it!

"A couple of times a year I make myself a mix to play in the car, full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can't believe that they'll be another. Yet there always is, and I can't wait for the next one; you need only a few hundred more things like that, and you've got a life worth living."

I would classify this short book as part memoir, part music criticism, and part pop-culture manifesto. English novelist/essayist Nick Hornby dissects 30 po"A couple of times a year I make myself a mix to play in the car, full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can't believe that they'll be another. Yet there always is, and I can't wait for the next one; you need only a few hundred more things like that, and you've got a life worth living."

I would classify this short book as part memoir, part music criticism, and part pop-culture manifesto. English novelist/essayist Nick Hornby dissects 30 pop songs and 15 pop albums in terms of musicality, lyrical content, production, et. al. I use the term "pop" loosely, as Hornby discusses music from several genres.

Although I consider my musical tastes to be somewhat eclectic, I will admit that several musicians Hornby made mention of, I found myself unfamiliar with. However, that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. For me, the best parts were when the author was able to make connections between emotions he felt while listening to his personal favorite songs, and the enjoyment we feel when we really, truly connect with a piece of music.

The biggest drawback I found was Hornby's tone, which I found to be condescending and even fairly jaded at times. He seemed to be very quick to judge some artists based on flippant observations. For example, in the last chapter, he makes mention of Eminem, and immediately writes Eminem's lyrics off as "...a Tourette's-like and apparently inexhaustible torrent of bile toward his fellow entertainers, his partners, and members of his family." Well, yes... but what about his skill as a lyricist? In a book devoted in large part to the criticism of music, it seems rather glib to pigeon-hole an artist like so.

Bottom line - although frustrating and short-sighted at times, this book had some meaningful insights as to how pop music shapes our lives in current culture, as well as how and why we benefit from listening to it. (Bonus: any book that mentions Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Eminem within a span of 50 pages is meaningful in its own right)....more

I've been a Nick Hornby fan ever since I read High Fidelity and was blown away by what I consider to be one of the best "pop" novels ever written. But ever since reading High Fidelity, I've felt let down by his work. It's not that the other novels aren't enjoyable, but they don't emanate the same kind of raw honesty and personal meaning that High Fidelity did for me. There was something about that book that just seems very true to me.

That said, this is best book I've read by him since High FidelI've been a Nick Hornby fan ever since I read High Fidelity and was blown away by what I consider to be one of the best "pop" novels ever written. But ever since reading High Fidelity, I've felt let down by his work. It's not that the other novels aren't enjoyable, but they don't emanate the same kind of raw honesty and personal meaning that High Fidelity did for me. There was something about that book that just seems very true to me.

That said, this is best book I've read by him since High Fidelity, and it might have something to do with the ground it covers: pop music. Rather than seeing and feeling pop music through the eyes of a fictional character, like we did with Rob in HF, Hornby writes about his own personal connection to music in this book. Each chapter talks about a song that has some sort of meaning for him. He tells the story of how he came to discover the song or of the moment that the song touched him. The moments would seem trivial if related by anyone else, but Hornby uses the stories as a launch pad to generalize about human experience, communication, and emotion. In one chapter, for example, he talks about his autistic son and how music is the one area in life where is son expresses himself, not by singing or dancing but just by listening intently and passionately. Subsequently Hornby writes about how he thinks all of us use music to express emotions that we can't verbally communicate very well with others.

Most of the songs he discusses is stuff you probably haven't heard before. But after reading the book you'll definitely want to listen to them. I recommend googling each song as you read the chapter. Google has a neat feature that will connect you to an mp3 of the song if it's available. You can stream the song for free while you read the chapter. You'll discover that Hornby has great taste. ...more

This was my first introduction to Nick Hornby, and now that I've found an author who shares my feelings and taste in music, I'm completely willing--even more willing than I might be for a writer who's "only" as great as Hornby--to explore the novels he's written. For one, he's hilarious. I laughed and laughed deeply at his jokes (especially those regarding his Billboard exploration and songs to have sex to). And secondly, he has a writing style that's both candid and eloquent, serviceably invisiThis was my first introduction to Nick Hornby, and now that I've found an author who shares my feelings and taste in music, I'm completely willing--even more willing than I might be for a writer who's "only" as great as Hornby--to explore the novels he's written. For one, he's hilarious. I laughed and laughed deeply at his jokes (especially those regarding his Billboard exploration and songs to have sex to). And secondly, he has a writing style that's both candid and eloquent, serviceably invisible. My third point--though I have plenty more--is that he really brings back the mixtape. What I mean is that he adds a personal touch and certain amount of "Screw it, I do love Rod Stewart" that I find lacking in music websites and magazines (which I understand serve a different purpose than Songbook). Anyway, I seriously recommend that you set aside an afternoon, pull up the playlist, and enjoy. ...more

Nick Hornby is the author of the novels A Long Way Down, Slam, How to Be Good, High Fidelity, and About a Boy, and the memoir Fever Pitch. He is also the author of Songbook, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, Shakespeare Wrote for Money, and The Polysyllabic Spree, as well as the editor of the short-story collection Speaking with the Angel. He is a recipient of the American AcadeNick Hornby is the author of the novels A Long Way Down, Slam, How to Be Good, High Fidelity, and About a Boy, and the memoir Fever Pitch. He is also the author of Songbook, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, Shakespeare Wrote for Money, and The Polysyllabic Spree, as well as the editor of the short-story collection Speaking with the Angel. He is a recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ E. M. Forster Award and the winner of the 2003 Orange Word International Writers’ London Award. Among his many other honors and awards, four of his titles have been named New York Times Notable Books. A film written by Hornby, An Education – shown at the Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim – was the lead movie at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival and distributed by Sony that fall. That same September, the author published his latest novel, Juliet, Naked to wide acclaim. Hornby lives in North London. ...more

“I love the relationship that anyone has with music ... because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. ... It's the best part of us probably ...”
—
554 likes

“Sarcasm and compassion are two of the qualities that make life on Earth tolerable.”
—
505 likes